Chapter 84 - The Truth About Exploring an Unexplored Ruin (2/2)

“Elena-san, what did you do back then?”

“Back then? That’s a mini information-gathering device. I used it to get more accurate data of the area and to check for any monsters.”

“Ohhh, so there’s something like that, huh.”

“That one is a canister type that can be launched from a grenade launcher, but there are many other types that you can use, you know. Some of them can be controlled manually or set to automatically explore the floor. There are even controllable drones that you can use to explore the area.”

“That sounds really convenient. How much do they cost?”

“They’re pretty expensive. The drones can even cost up to 1,000,000 Aurum per drone. It’s all good if they returned after exploring the ruin, but sometimes they get destroyed by the monsters or the connection gets interrupted and the drone crashes. There are even cases when they returned back while bringing some monsters together with them. Not to mention, if you get unlucky, some monsters can trace-back the drone and detect your location.”

“I see, so that canister type, how much does it usually cost?”

“That’s about 10,000 Aurum per canister. It’s pretty expensive for a single-use equipment, so I plan to retrieve it later if it’s possible… The reason why I didn’t use it last time was because it would be a waste if something breaks it. So I just thought that there was no need to use one back then, but this time it seems that the ruin has turned more dangerous than before, that’s why I used it just to be safe.”

Elena seemed a bit fl.u.s.tered as she replied. She had done that all for the sake of maximizing the possible profit from the exploration. After all, if they ended up in red because of that, it would beat the main purpose as to why they explored the ruin. Since they decided to bet their lives on exploring the ruin, it was important to return back with more money.

In order for them to minimize their expenses, they had to put their lives in more risk. It was indeed a harsh world. That was what Akira thought.

As Akira went down the stairs, he noticed the traces of something big and heavy running up the stairs. But the stairs were not that damaged, so it did not cause much trouble for Akira and the others as they walked down. It showed just how amazing the old-world building was.

After they went down the stairs, they went through the same hallway that they went through last time. But the interior of that hallway was so much different compared to the previous time they visited the place.

Unlike last time when they had to use a flashlight to explore the hallway, the hallway was bright enough without any extra illumination this time. Looking at the shadow that cast straight below them, they knew that the light came from above, but there was no lamp-like object fixed in the ceiling at all.

Elena looked around and said.

“So this facility is still active, huh. I wonder if some Hunters went to the deeper part of the ruin and did something to turn the facility back on.”

The interior was bright enough for them to see far deep into the ruin. There were traces of explosives, bullets and blood on the hallway, showing that fights happened there.

Akira stared into the deeper part of the ruin and said.

“There are traces of battles here too, there are also traces of something big and heavy pa.s.sing through the stair… It’s really weird that there’s no dead monster or Hunters in this place.”

Looking at the traces, the battle should have happened a few days ago. And judging from the blood splatters, there should be at least multiple dead organic monsters or at least human corpses in the area. Since there were traces of mechanical monster wreckage above the ground, it meant that there should be at least some leftover mechanical monsters too. Akira thought that it was impossible for all of them to reach the surface without getting killed on the way.

Sara made a guess and said to Akira.

“…I’m not really sure either. But I think that the cleaning drone might have cleaned them up.”

Although the old-world ruins were left unmanned for years, some of them were always kept clean and in tiptop shape. It was all thanks to the cleaning drones and the self-repair function that was still active even right now.

Those kinds of ruins were relatively more dangerous. Since any traces of monsters were regularly cleaned up, making it harder to gauge the danger inside that ruin. Not to mention, the security functions might also still be active and they would try to eradicate any trespa.s.sers.

“It seems that there’s no monster around, let’s carefully go deeper.”

With that signal from Elena, they continued exploring deeper into the ruin while keeping their guards up.

They eventually reached the hall where they collected some relics the previous time they came there. They did not meet any monsters yet. Although there were traces of battles here and there, they did not find any dead corpses from those battles either.

The way forward was branching into two hallways. They noticed that there were traces of something big and heavy having pa.s.sed through the right hallway, the destroyed ticket gate near it showed the strength of that unknown thing.

Elena turned to Akira and Sara and asked them.

“Which way to go?”

“Left.”

“Let’s go left.”

Sara and Akira did not hesitate when they answered Elena’s question. All of them agreed to go to the left.

When they continued to the left hallway, they found themselves inside an underground city.

There were shops and stands lined up inside, but most of them were already in a destroyed state.

And unlike inside the hallway, there were traces of battles complete with the corpses of the organic monsters, wreckages from the mechanical monsters, and the dead Hunters.

Elena’s expression turned grim. But it was not because of the number of the dead Hunters scattered in front of her, nor was it because most of the relics were destroyed by the explosives that were used in this place.

She turned to Akira and Sara.

“Akira, Sara, are you guys ready? They’re coming.”

The moment she said that, Sara and Akira moved to her front and readied their rifles. Akira put his rucksack down and lined up extra magazines on the ground around him. Sara also did the same as Akira.

From the goggles that he was equipping, Akira could see information from his information-gathering device as well as from Elena’s information-gathering device. He could see countless signals coming in his direction.

Judging from the movements of those signals, it was rather obvious that they had noticed Akira’s position. More and more signals kept appearing in the detection range. The monsters in that area were still alive and kicking. They were only taking a short rest after cleaning up the Hunters that went in before the trio.

Akira pulled the trigger almost at the same time as Sara. As gunshots echoed through the area, it signalled that another fight had started.

Sounds of monsters came out from deep inside the underground city as well as from the already destroyed shops in the area as they quickly gathered at Akira’s location. There were all kinds of monsters, some of them were carnivorous monsters with large strong legs, some of them were half-cyborg dogs with conspicuous mechanical body parts. There were even missile pods with legs that burst out missiles randomly as if it did not care if they hit the other monsters.

Those monsters ran from behind wreckage to wreckage while closing into Akira’s position, but Akira quickly took them out together with the wreckage that they were using to hide with his DVTS minigun. The powerful DVTS minigun also made a quick work of the monsters that were caught moving from one wreckage to another. The bullet storms destroyed everything, both the monsters and the wreckages.

As for the monsters with long-range weapons which were shooting from far away, Akira would take cover behind st.u.r.dy-looking wreckage and use his CWH anti-material rifle while relying on the information received from his information-gathering device to aim at them. The powerful piercing bullet from his CWH anti-material rifle could easily pierce through the rubble and the monster hiding behind it.

Elena was also providing support fire while shooting some mini information-gathering devices into the deeper part of the ruin to perform more accurate detection. She then sent the location of monsters with long-range weaponry as well as the trajectory line of the projectiles that they shot to Akira and Sara. She was also sending the precise locations of the monsters that were approaching Akira and Sara to make sure of their safety while providing them support fire.

Sara used the information from Elena to accurately aim at those monsters. She used her A4WM Repeater Grenade Launcher to shoot the monsters that were hiding behind the rubbles from above them or by bouncing the grenade off the holes on those rubbles.

Sara trusted Elena’s information and kept blasting grenades into those monsters. Most of her shots. .h.i.t the vital points of those monsters like their heads or their cannons which then caused a localized explosion.

Although they had the upper hand in that battle, Elena’s and Sara’s expression somehow looked grim.

Sara then asked Elena who knew the best about the situation they were in.

“Elena, about those monsters though…”

“Yeah, some of them are the same type of monsters that we found in the Kuzusuhara ruin underground city.”

“…I see, so my guess is correct, huh.”

Sara’s expression turned grimmer than before.

The underground city located under the Kuzusuhara ruin was filled with powerful monsters, enough to make the City Management set up a forward base there. During their forward base aid request, Sara and Elena had to fight back those monsters that were coming out from the underground city. There were even times when they were overwhelmed by some of those monsters, but at that time, they were able to receive reinforcement from the other Hunters who were standing guard and the tanks nearby, thus they were able to fight back those monsters without any trouble.

In case if those powerful monsters were mixed in the swarm that they were facing right now, then they were indeed in a very bad situation.

Elena then continued.

“As far as my detection goes, these monsters are relatively weaker than the monsters that we faced in the underground city. But still, it’s not normal to find these monsters in this place.”

Sara then turned to Akira.

“Akira, are you okay over there?!”

“I’m fine!!”

“That’s good to hear!! Some of these monsters are dangerous!! There’s no need to try saving your ammo, use your full power!!”

“Understood!!”

Akira’s answer was firm, there was no trace of panic or fear in his voice.

Sara and Elena smiled when they heard his answer. Judging from his answer, it seemed that Akira was able to hold himself just fine in that battle, thus their focuses that were unconsciously leaning toward worrying about him, in case if he was in danger, s.h.i.+fted to the monsters in front of them. Thanks to that, it greatly reduced the time that they needed to clear up the monsters.

Even without Sara’s recommendation, Akira was already using his full power without worrying about his ammo expense. But he had to still worry about his leftover ammo. He carefully gauged the enemy and used the openings to quickly replace the empty magazine of his rifle before immediately returning back to shooting and pus.h.i.+ng back the monsters that were approaching him. Since he had no other choice but to use his bullets, he was trying to use them as effectively as possible.

As not to make any mistakes when reloading, he would throw his empty magazines far away from him. But after some time, the number of empty magazines around him had significantly increased.

Because of the absence of Alpha’s support, Akira’s shooting skill was lower than usual, and also his actual skill was not enough to efficiently take out the monsters in this situation. Akira was actually compensating that by shooting more than usual, as such, he was using more ammo.

[…I still have some reserve magazines left in my rucksack. When I have to use them too, I’ll call for Alpha. That is if Alpha can still provide me with support in this place though… I guess I should try to ask her now to confirm that while I still have the chance, huh?]

Akira hesitated for a bit, but he quickly made up his decision.

[No, that kind of pessimistic way of thinking will be fatal in this situation! Moreover, if I can’t handle this situation myself, that in itself is a fatal flaw that will definitely get me killed sooner or later! I have to get stronger! That’s why I have to handle this myself!]

Akira pulled himself together and continued shooting.

He was trying to get stronger, he was also putting extra effort to get stronger, and for that sake, he placed himself in more danger. The source of that desire was nothing more than his own will to get stronger. But in reality, there was another reason that he himself did not realize as to why he was trying so hard.

As the fight continued, the sound of gunshots that echoed through the underground city summoned more and more monsters. Those gunshots would not stop as long as the Hunters were still fighting the monsters.

Then eventually the gunshots stopped.

The last person who was holding the trigger was Akira. As the final bullet that pushed through the barrel of his rifle pierced through the head of the last monster alive, it signalled the eradication of the monsters in the area. And with no targets to shoot, the battle came to an end.

The underground city was wrapped in silence, Akira looked around his surroundings while still on high alert.

5 seconds pa.s.sed, then additional 10 seconds, the silence still continued. After another 10 seconds, Elena smiled and said.

“No more signals. It seems that there are no more monsters around, it’s alright now.”

Elena and Sara finally lowered their guards. Akira let out a big sigh.

There were not many magazines left. Akira smiled lightly, he felt more confident since he was able to survive the battle without Alpha’s support.

Sara smiled and walked to Akira.

“You looked pretty calm there, you did well. There were even some monsters from the inner part of the underground city mixed in that swarm, normal Hunters who never faced those monsters would at least have some hard time fighting them, you know?”

“Well, I was using my ammo without holding back after all. Although, at that point, it can be said that I was already hard-pressed. Had it continued any longer, I would have racked a huge ammo expense since I used quite a lot of ammo to kill those strong monsters that Sara-san and Elena-san warned me about… So those monsters are the ones from the inner part of the underground city, huh?”

“Yep, that’s right. They are actually pretty weak compared to the other monsters that you can find in the inner part of the underground city. For the bigger monsters, you’ll have to get help from a tank to kill them, you know. But I don’t think we’ll encounter any of them in this place. And even if we do, they’re pretty huge, so we can just return back to the narrow hallway. There’s no need to fight them here.”

Elena smiled and joined in.

“Now then, since we’re also in red right now, let’s gather some relics from this place to make sure that we end up with more money than we used.”

Elena then scanned the area around her one more time. That particular area of the underground city was already half-destroyed. After all, both the monsters and the Hunters who fought in that place did not care what happened to the ruin in that area. Although the structure itself was still standing strong thanks to the old-world technologies, the relics inside it did not share the same level of durability.

“…That is… if we can still find good relics in this area though.”

Elena smiled bitterly when she said that.

<script>